Happy Birthday Brayden

Here's to the cutest boy in the ward (as voted up at girls camp!)




So, I posted early today about yesterday being our anniversary. Well, on the night of our 1st anniversary I went into labor with the one and only Brayden Kasamu Shum. After a lot of puking and 13 hours of labor, Brayden entered the world 3 years ago today. He has brought us so much joy and laughter in these 3 years, he was truly meant to be the oldest brother in our family. Sometime that boy has wisdom beyond his years and a memory that never ceases to shock us. When we were camping this summer he had taken a little hike down to a river with Junior and the next day was wanting Janessa and I to take him. Niether of us had a clue where to go and he simply said, "Come on follow me" and down the road he went. He led us right to the river no problem. He is our little daredevil in some ways (i.e. water, heights, exploring) but all so conservative in other ways (loud noises, messes etc. He his determined and once he knows what he wants, he follows it. Brayden is destined to become a star one day, he loves movies, pretending, acting and most of all being DRAMATIC. The other day he was crying and through sobs he said, "Mommy, hold me up to the mirror so I can watch myself cry." He is a kind and caring older brother that is always looking out for Tavita. On Tuesday I put them down to sleep and I heard Tavita cry for like 10 seconds and then stop. Later that night I went in to check on them and both boys were in Tavita's crib, intertwined and fast asleep. The next morning I asked Brayden why he slept in Tavita's crib and he looked at me and said, "Mommy, Tavita was sad so I played with him and read him stories. What more could one ask for in a big brother!

4 years and lovin it!

Junior and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary yesterday, and as with most other days, I didn't have time to get on here and give kudos to my wonderful hubby. I know everyone says this but I couldn't have a better husband. He is the perfect match for me, we compliment each other so well. He's always there as a constant symbol of patience and humility. I'm constantly told how lucky I am to have a husband that is so involved with the kids and it's true. I'm always telling him he makes a better mom than I do! It's hard to believe it's already been 4 years but at the same time when I look at all that's happened in these past 4 years (2 kids, a move, a house, 2 trips overseas etc) it's hard to believe it's only been 4 years. I am eternally grateful for the day Junior came into my life and look forward to many more years with him!

Birthday Halabaloo and other adventures

Well, we've had a fun couple of weeks, and as always I've neglected to keep up on posting, I'll try to keep this post as short as I can. I had my birthday on the 24th, and a perk to living in Utah it means that Junior gets the day off of work and there's all sorts of activities going on throughout the weekend. To top it off, my friend Brittany was there for the weekend as well. On the 24th we went to a Pioneer Day Celebration in the park with all sorts of fun activities for the kids. The highlight of that day was the obstacle course. Junior had Tavita and I had Brayden. Brayden tore it up jumping over the fence and through the tires then came time to crawl through the covered wagons, a seemingly easy feat for an almost 3 year-old, however a wrench was thrown into the picture, or should I say a snake. In between the two "wagons" was a big old stuffed snake that couldn't look more fake. Anyway, Brayden was bookin along then suddenly froze in his tracks. He looked at the snake with these huge eyes and dove into the wagon. He sat in there forever with a look of absolute fear and refused to come out for the longest time. I was laughing to hard to do much about the situation. I finally got him out and he quickly made it to the turn around point of the course but on his way back it came time to pass the snake and he once again sought refuge in the wagon and would come out until well after little Tavita and burned through the course. It was an absoulte classic moment, unfortuantely all of us were laughing too hard to capture his face. We also had Brayden's birthday party this past Thursday even though his actual birthday isn't until this Thursday. We invited a few of his friends to join us at the pool (it has slides and all sorts of fun things that spray water)all of which we forgot to take pictures of. Anyway, after the swimmig was done "Captain Brayden" led the other pirates on a treasure hunt through the adjoining park where they found swords, eye patches, hats, tatoos and other pirate loot. After the hunt we had pizza, cake and ice cream, opened presents and had some fierce pirates involved in some killer sword fights. On Friday Junior being the brave man he is took BOTH boys to Father n Sons. They had the time of their lives playing horseshoes and other games, throwing rocks in the creek, exploring and getting DIRTY! I don't know if I've previously mentioned but my brother Ryan is living with us now and has been experiencing the joys of having two energetic little boys in the house. His stuff was constantly being torn into so I told him just to start locking his door, it opens easily with a butter knife. Well the idea worked great for about a week or so but apparently Brayden was quietly observing. Last week Ryan was in changing and Brayden was pounding on the door saying "Uncle Ryan, let me in". Since Ryan was ignoring him Brayden decided to take matters into his own hands, I heard this clinking noise and I come around the corner and there's Brayden, knife in hand, picking the lock. So alas, Ryan once again has no privacy. Luckily he's very patient and the boys love having Uncle around. He has nicknamed Tavita "Stich" claiming he was created soley to destroy. I can't help but to agree with the MANY antics he's constantly pulling. The other day we were all sitting down having dinner and Tavita had escaped upstairs to play. I asked Ryan to go check on him real quick. As he was walking up the stairs he found Tavita standing at the top of the stairs a thing of mayonaise held high above his head (our neighbors had borrowed it and it was sitting on the ledge by the stairs). Ryan tried to stop him but it was too late. Tavita chucked the container down the stairs and it EXPLODED. I wish I got an initial picture but my mind didn't recover from the shock till a few minutes later. The initial scene was this: Tavita at the top of the stairs covered in mayonaise with a look of "uhoh what did I do, I'm definetly in trouble for this one" Ryan part way up the stairs, also covered in mayonaise, completely speachless, and mayonaise splattered everywhere around them. I'm talking all over the stairs, walls, cieling, up over the ledge, all over the carpet the next floor up and to the couch. Luckily we had some kind friends over that helped us with the initial clean up and I spent over 3 hours the next day scrubbing carpet and walls. I kid you not, this boy is into trouble a good 50% of the day, if not more. Often after one of his little antics he takes of running with this mischevious little giggle. Man, I'm in trouble with this one, but he is once cute little monster. Anyway, enough of the novel, I'll let the pics tell the rest.

Daily Joys

Okay, just got off of work and I'm too tired to write any stories. Thought I'd just post some pics of our typical days. I love summer and I especially love kids in the summer. I love them running around with no shirt on, I love their little tan lines, I love watching them splash around in water. There's nothing sweeter than a popsicle grin while swinging on the tire swing.

Why work when I've got this kind of help!

We eat out here almost daily

The day's not complete without an Otterpop

Summer Fun



Brayden and his buddy Carson

I LOVE baby bums!

Ok, so while going through pics I came across this pic and had a random thought. Does anyone see any resemblance, I see it in Brayden and me but with Tavita, I've got nothing.

We're Alive, Just busy!!!

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I last posted. My biggest problem is we've been so busy I don't post because I have way to much to post about and it would be a novel to cover our lives in the past two months. So, I will post little stories here and there. Hopefully two a day we'll see how it goes. Here's a quick summary of what's been going on:
-Thanks to multiple LATE nights (acutally early mornings) from Junior our upstairs (3beds and 2 baths) we are now living upstairs. We still need to finish our master bath but other than that it's looking great.
-We've had my parents, brother and sister, and Junior's parents all in for a visit. Ryan is now living with us and Junior's parents are here for another month. We've been staying busy and loving spending the time with family.
-We took a week long trip up to the Uintas. Loved it!!! absoultely goregeous up there. Junior and the boys got to experience their 1st rodeo.
I'm sure more stories will come as I download pics and what not. Anyway, the boys are at the park with their Nana and Papa and I've got to get on a run. Hopefully I can get the first of the pictures up tonight.

Thoughts from the once pretty mom turned fat

So, Brayden loves to watch mine and Juniors wedding video, especially before bed. Last night after his bath he had about 1/2 hour before bedtime and he asked to watch the video. Here's how the conversation went:
Brayden: "Can I watch Mommy and Daddy's movie?

Me: "You mean the one where we get married?"

Brayden: "Yeah, Mommy you so pretty in there"

Me (Feeling flattered): "Oh, thank-you, do you still think I'm pretty?"

Brayden pauses to contemplate then says: "No, just in the movie, not anymore."
THen as if to make up for things, "But in the movie you sooo beautiful, you just look like Mommy now."

Now keep in mind that earlier that day he was trying on a pair of my pants and he said, "I can't wear them, they're too fat."
And a few nights ago I was laying in bed with him talking about his day and as he was getting tired and starting to drift of he said, "Mommy, go sleep in your bed, you''re too fat for my bed."
He always says these things so sweetly and sincerly. Normally I'd be crushed if someone said these things to me, but I can't stay angry at someone who after saying these things takes my face in his little hands to make sure I'm looking at him and says, "I love you Mommy, you're my best friend." Times like those make up for all his little stinker moments.
Tavita know how to soften me to. He's definetly my headstrong one who has no interest in listening to what I have to say. I get so frustrated with the mischeif he gets into then he turns to me with the full-faced grin that makes his eyes disappear (Reminds me of Grandpa Orme) and his teeth in full show (he also has Grandpa Orme's front teeth, we named him well). When he gives me one of those smiles, my heart just melts and I don't care about the trash strewn around, Brayden's toilet dumped all over the place or anything else he manages to get into.
These two little rascals bring me so much joy.

Mother's Day

So as Mother's Day approached I had immages of me doing a lot of this:

And my angelic children spending the day doing this:

This is just how my day started. My wonderful husband let me sleep in while he made an amazing breakfast of Orange Pecan French Toast (seriously delicious, if you want the recipe let me know). I was awakened to Brayden giving me a card and hug while saying, "You're the best mom!".
However, as time went on mmy perception of my boys was more like this:

And I looked like this:

Here's a few highlights from things that happened in a matter of just over an hour before church:
-Brayden escaped to neighbors
-Tavita refused to take nap and was screaming the whole time
-While trying to calm Tavita he pulled down a picture and shattered the glass
-We heard Brayden say "Look" turned around and his brand new outfit we were going to use for pictures next week was COVERED with nail polish
-I got a half eaten worm (yes a real one) stuck to the bottom of my foot
-Found chewed up apple all over the bed with brown staings from the juice everywhere
-The pictures for my primary lesson wound up crumpled and strewn across the house.
The list goes on and on.
By the time we were finishing dinner at almost 8 at night (a very delicious steak dinner by the way) we were laughing about the whole thing. I just want to thank my boys for reminding me what it really means to be a mom! Hope all you moms had a wonderful mothers day.